Monday, March 15
Posted: 11 a.m. Eastern
It pays to make big bets in the markets -- especially if you're a shrewd investor.
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According to Forbes magazine's list of the world's billionaires, Bill Gates has been knocked off his "king of the mountain" position again, and we have a new man topping the list. Carlos Slim Helu, who owns various telecom shares, including a $23-billion stake in America Movil, tops the list with $53.5 billion. This is the third time in three years the No. 1 position on the list has turned over.
Mexican tycoon Helu's fortune increased by $18.5 billion in the past year, as shares of America Movil, a Latin American wireless carrier, soared 35 percent.
Gates still has a tidy fortune, and so does No. 3 on the list, Warren Buffet. Gates increased his pot by $13 billion from a year ago, to $53 billion, mostly because shares of Microsoft rose a whopping 50 percent. Gates has topped the list of billionaires for 14 of the past 15 years.
Buffet saw his fortune increase by $10 billion to $47 billion on shares of Berkshire Hathaway. In the 2008 stock market carnage, he invested in General Electric and Goldman Sachs, and acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
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